Guy gearing up for return

Guy Demel expects to be back at the peak of his powers sooner rather than later, after stepping up his recovery from the nasty concussion he suffered at Cardiff City.

The powerful full-back played an hour in Thursday's friendly at home to Tottenham Hotspur and happily reported feeling better for the outing.

Demel now plans to put in the hard yards over the coming days, as he looks forward to a prospective Barclays Premier League return at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday night.

He told whufc.com: "It's good to be on the pitch now, I'm happy to feel that I'm getting back to normal. I still have a couple of days of hard work to be sure that I'll be ready for the next game.

"I'm working hard with the physios and with fitness coaches and I'm sure the extra couple of days before Chelsea will be useful. I'll be alright.

"I'm obviously a little bit tired because the shock lowered my energy levels as well, as if I've been out for a month or something.

"It's an hour and it's always good to have game practice, better sometimes than training sessions, especially when you play a team like that. They came here with a lot of international players, so it was a really good test."

Chelsea's team, too, will be awash with seasoned internationals, but Demel is approaching Wednesday's clash like any other, insistent that anything is possible. The 32-year-old Ivorian cares not for reputations, concentrating all his efforts on improving the Hammers' modest points tally.

"Every game is winnable," he added. "It depends how prepared you are and how focused you are. I think that even Chelsea is a winnable game. Of course they're a big team but it's a football game and when I step onto the pitch each weekend I'm not expecting to lose - no matter which team is in front of me. That's not the way I grew up and it's not the way I see things.

"Of course there will be some opponents that might be slightly easier, so to speak, but we just have to get the points. It doesn't matter where we get them, we just need points, points, points. It's not like [it's extra special] because we beat Chelsea, no, I just want points!"

While the Hammers will, no doubt, have to defend well at Stamford Bridge, Demel insists it will take a collective effort to keep the Blues at bay. But the the right-back is, of course, pleased to see defensive numbers swell, with James Collins and James Tomkins both back in the reckoning, and Winston Reid not too far behind either.

"When you talk about defending, you defend with ten players on the pitch plus the goalkeeper, not only the defenders," he continued. "As a team we have to perform well. If you want the defence to be solid we have to play well and the defence can then make the difference.

"We're now going to have some players back on board, but it's really hard when you come back from injury for a long time to go straight back into that type of environment. Winston Reid will be really important, James Collins is getting better and Tomkins is back, I hope Joey will be back soon too."